Attorney General Pam Bondi gives a press conference announcing the state has filed a lawsuit against five large drug manufacturers and distributers of opioids. Bondi is flanked by state, local government officials and other families affected by the opioids epidemic at the Riverside Recovery Center in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday, May 15, 2018.

Florida Sues Major Opioid Manufacturers and Distributors

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi today filed an action in state court against some of the nation’s largest opioid manufacturers and distributors for their role in the national opioid crisis. The complaint names as defendants opioid manufacturers Purdue Pharma L.P., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cephalon, Inc., and Allergan plc and related companies, and opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., McKesson Corporation, and Mallinckrodt LLC and related company.

“We are in the midst of a national opioid crisis claiming 175 lives a day nationally and 15 lives a day in Florida, and I will not tolerate anyone profiting from the pain and suffering of Floridians,” said Attorney General Bondi. “The complaint I filed today, seeks to hold some of the nation’s largest opioid manufacturers and distributors responsible for their role in this crisis and seeks payment for the pain and destruction their actions have caused Florida and its citizens.”

The opioid manufacturers allegedly used a campaign of misrepresentations and omissions about the use of opioids to doctors and consumers in order to increase prescriptions and opioid use, including false statements about the addictive nature of opioids and omissions of the severe risks posed by taking opioids. The opioid distributors allegedly shipped inordinately high volumes of opioids to customers in Florida and failed to report these suspicious orders of opioids, thereby fueling widespread diversion of opioids throughout the state.

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the opioid manufacturers used front organizations and key opinion leaders to promote false messages about opioids. This conduct was particularly abhorrent because the front organizations and key opinion leaders appeared to be neutral advocates for the use of opioids to treat chronic pain but were actually paid mouthpieces of the manufacturers. The distributors failed in their duties under Florida law to stop the suspiciously high orders of opioids they received. Instead, the distributors placed profit over safety and continued filling the suspicious opioid orders. In the complaint filed in Pasco County Circuit Court, the Attorney General’s Office alleged that the defendants’ actions violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the Florida RICO Act, and violated common law public nuisance and negligence. The complaint seeks damages, injunctive relief, restitution, and civil penalties for defendants’ conduct.

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